LOW COST AND FLEXIBLE ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM CONFIGURED IN A UNITARY HOUSING HAVING A DISPLAYLESS CONFIGURATION

• US 20110202783A1
• Filed: 01/03/2011
• Published: 08/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc. DBA GE Appliances (Haier Group Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Nolan, Kevin Farrelly, Emery, Cathy Diane, Watts, William Anthony, Bultman, Robert Marten, Drake, Jeff Donald, Worthington, Timothy Dale, Venkatakrishnan, Natarajan, Bingham, David C., Finch, Michael Francis, Kobraei, Henry
• Granted Patent: US 8,775,848 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/340
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/12 The local stationary network supplying a household or a building

Abstract

A device configured in a unitary displayless housing, including a computing device that stores, manipulates and communicates energy data, and the displayless external surface of the unitary housing, including status indicator lights to show the status of the device.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a displayless housing; and

a computing device disposed in said housing, that stores, manipulates and communicates energy data status indicators operatively connected to said computing device and disposed on the external surface of said housing for conveying the status of the device.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the device is a home energy gateway.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein said computing device is configured to operate with a plurality of user interface not part of the device.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein the plurality of user interfaces can be upgraded independently of each other.

5. The device of claim 1 further including a plurality of interface channels which interface with two or more communication networks.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein the device acts as a single point gateway for data exchange between a plurality of communication networks.

7. The device of claim 1 further including a reset button on the exterior of the housing.

8. The device of claim 1 wherein the energy data is one or more of:

energy consumption information, energy pricing information, or energy reduction commands related to accessories found in a home.

9. The device of claim 1 further configured to communicate with an external server.

10. The device of claim 1 wherein the computing device is a single board computer.

11. A home energy gateway for use in an energy management system that includes a plurality of communication networks, the home energy gateway comprising:

a displayless housing;

a plurality of interface channels corresponding to the plurality of communication networks disposed in said housing;

a computing device disposed in said housing that stores energy data and exchanges the energy data with the plurality of communication networks via the plurality of interface channels; and

status indicator lights configured with said housing and operative to show the status of the network and the device.

12. The device of claim 11 further configured to communicate with a user interface that is not a dedicated user interface of the device.

13. The device of claim 11 further configured to communicate without a dedicated user interface designed to operate with a plurality of user interfaces not part of the device.

14. The device of claim 13 wherein the plurality of user interfaces can be upgraded independent of each other.

15. The device of claim 11 further including a plurality of interface channels that interface with two or more communication networks.

16. The device of claim 11 wherein the device acts as a single point gateway for data exchange between a plurality of communication networks.

17. The device of claim 11 further including a reset button on the exterior of the housing.

18. The device of claim 11 wherein the energy data consists of one or more of:

energy consumption information, energy pricing information, or energy reduction commands related to accessories found in a home.

19. The device of claim 11 wherein at least some of the plurality of the interface channels are configured to communicate with communication networks using different protocols from other ones of the communication networks.

20. The device of claim 11 wherein is configured to communicate to an external server.